This game always seemed so difficult to me. Right off the bat, those little enemies in the first area were a huge threat already. Yet, somehow, after getting my bearings with the game after playing it for over my high school, college, and post-college years and restarting who knows how many times, I started to feel a little more at ease in Zebes. A handy comic book strategy guide also helped me shed my anxieties while playing this game. It may not be a necessary accessory for those who can go through the trouble of drawing their own map, but for me it was a necessity and, most likely, a lot of other people will think the same.

Given that this is an old, NES game, I didn’t expect much out of its controls. You can move left and right, jump (with height dependent on how long you have the button pressed for), you can shoot. It all feels responsive. This game is the first in the Metroid series, so a lot of staples, like crouch-shooting, are missing. The game features the power-up system that is prevalent in all Metroid games.

The story is that Samus needs to go to Zebes and fight off MOTHER BRAIN. That’s the story. It works. It gets you to want to destroy Mother Brain. Whatever. There’s not much more to it. It’s not designed to have a story; it was designed to give players a challenge and to kill some time. For its purpose, it works.

It sounds every bit an NES game as you’d expect it to. It sounds 8-bit like and all that, but it sounds really good.Brinstar gives you that sense of adventure but then you reach an elevator or item room and you get a sense of mystery and dread

The graphics for this game work. It’s still a far ways from being perfect, but since it works, it’s nearly forgiven. One thing though, is that a lot of rooms share the same layout. This is both good and bad. It’s good in the sense that it’s atmospheric but it’s also bad because it’s easy to get lost. If you had an in-game map, this would not have been so much of an issue, maybe, but without one, your main guide would have been the locales. But they all practically blend together (although, not as badly as Metroid II). So you’re left tracing your location on either a map you drew yourself or a map from a guide.

I recommend it to those seeking a good action adventure game with an arcadey feel to it. Just get ready to cry a lot.